


Life Through Cannon Fire

by TalentlyChallenged



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 05:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8389009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalentlyChallenged/pseuds/TalentlyChallenged
Summary: A child went off to war only to die. In his place rose an empire, but only through blood.The title of this story was inspired by an actual quote by Napoleon Bonaparte. "Prussia was hatched from a cannonball."*On Hiatus*





	

**Author's Note:**

> We do not own Hetalia or any of the characters portrayed in this story. We apologize in advance for any historical inaccuracies in this work. Some artistic license was taken, but we tried to stay as true to the history as possible. Please see the end of chapter for translations.

**Battle of Austerlitz**

December 2, 1805

 

An army of 68,000 men marched across an open field, the thunder of their feet only matched by the metallic clanging of weapons and gear. The cacophony of sound a warning to those who stood between them and domination. Ahead of them, a tree line blocked their view of the main road north. Surrounding them were rolling hills speckled with boulders and rock fences. Hidden inside the foliage of a grove off to their right, a pair of blood red eyes glare on as the army slowly makes its way across the field.

The leader of said army, sat atop a white stallion at the front of the company. His more or less permanent smirk had an annoyed tilt to it. His companion and right hand man was being less than amiable.

“France. How long are you going to sulk? The last thing I need is for you to rain on my literal parade.” the leader asked. His tone matched his expression, if only you could poison with inflection.

“Oh I don’t know _Napoleon_. How long are you going to go on this suicide mission!?!” snapped the blonde. If inflection was poison, then sarcasm is the antidote.

“Trouillard! It is not a suicide mission!”

“Oh, excuse me mon Empereur! What the fuck do _you_ call invading Russia in the dead of winter?!?!”

“It is winter now idiot, by the time we get there it will be summer.”

“We’re in Austria. By the time we get there it will be winter _again_. And besides that, it’s Russia! There is no possible way we can win against that creep on his own turf.”

“Many people said the same of Prussia and Austria. I have already defeated Prussia once and Austria hasn’t even sent so much as a tail.”

“Winning against Prussia was more than likely just dumb luck. Though you are right about Austria, for such a stick in the mud he is a proud one. I don’t see him just giving his country to us. I thought he would have at least sent one of his underlings to stall our advan-.”

**BBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!**

**BBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!**

The entire company slowly came to a full stop at the sound of the horn. Both men looked around in confusion. There was no other reason for a full stop other than an opposing army.

Their leader was furious. “Who is the little shit who blew that horn?!?! I’ll have his ass hung up in a tree! Since when is a clump of trees a threat?!?!”

One of the soldiers off to Napoleon’s left side drew his attention and pointed to something in the tree line. “Mon Empereur, look.”

France followed where the man pointed and his entire being felt a sense of dread. There, at the head of a small procession was a boy. He was shaking, more out of fear than the weight of the golden flag he carried. The grim look of determination in his eyes matched those of the two headed black eagle spread across the flag. In the distance the drumming of other soldiers could be heard, bringing up the rear with the child and his men in the front lines. France could just make out the colors of the Russian army. “Mon Dieu pas,……Otto……”

France heard the sound of metal bits and ornaments jangling off his left side. He looked over at Napoleon. He was laughing; in fact he was barely containing his amusement.

“Pfft! Bwahahahaha! This is it?!?! This is the best Austria has to offer? Are they so weak they actually sent _a child_ to oppose me! If it wasn’t so damn funny I’d have to shoot someone to vent!” He looked toward one of his generals. “General Augereau! Tell firing squads one through six to prepare the cannons to fire!”

France panicked. Napoleon was not a very merciful person. “Non! Napoleon please! Let me go talk to the child. Give me a chance to talk him out of it or at least capture him! S’il vous plaît!”

Napoleon drew up at France’s pleas. He became stock still and no one dared to breath. When he finally did speak, it was so quiet and calm no one could misunderstand his meaning. “Are you asking me to spare my enemy, because he is a child?!?! In what part of war are children spared? More importantly, in what part of war, non, _my war_ are _enemies_ spared? Look behind you France! Within my army are at least two, maybe four dozen children! Some probably younger than him! Even more have been lost in battles past. My enemies didn’t spare them because they were children and I’ll be damned if I spare their **leader** because he is one!”

Napoleon turned back to the General “General Augereau, fire the cannons when ready. Aim right at that fucking pig. Maybe if we kill him, France will get his balls back!”

Otto and his men kept getting closer and closer. France frantically tried to figure out a way to deter Napoleon. **Anything** to stop him. He wasn’t quick enough.

“Mon Emperuer! The men are ready.”

“Good _._ Fire on my mark!” Napoleon raised his hand in preparation. Before he could drop his hand in signal, France launched himself from his own horse and tackled his Emperuer. **_“NON!!!”_**

Both men landed on the other side of Napoleon’s horse already engaged in an all-out brawl. On his own France would have won. For all his pomp and glamour he was still a seasoned veteran. Unfortunately Napoleon had a whole army behind him. They duked it out for a few minutes before the other soldiers were able to pry France off Napoleon. Napoleon managed to get one good hit in, giving France a shiny black eye. France, however, broke Napoleon’s nose and smashed out four of his teeth.

It took three men to hold France down. France looked towards the enemy. Otto and his men were still advancing. They were now completely out of the tree line. Otto was almost to a set of boulders when France turned around just in time to see Napoleon bring his arm down in signal.

All six cannons went off all at once, decimating the first two lines of soldiers. Screams and shouts went up from the men as the firing squads hurried to reload the next volley. France couldn’t see what was happening. The cannons had caused giant clouds of smoke and dust to go up around the enemy soldiers.

After a minute France heard a soldier cry out. “Unser Führer ist tot! Alle Soldaten zurückziehen!”

The smoke had started to clear and France could see the enemy soldiers retreating en mass toward the tree line. Bodies and broken men were everywhere. France could see it all; everything except Otto.

“Non! Otto!” France wretched himself away from the three men holding him and ran toward the twin boulders where he had last seen the child.

Behind him Napoleon was still on his rampage. “The Pig Army is retreating!  Men! Full charge!”

The Grande Armée let up a battle cry and charged after their enemy.

France ran around to the other side of the first boulder and dropped to his knees. The Holy Roman Empire was dead. The cannon fire had blown his body away. All that was left of him was three pools of blood. One made a small puddle on the ground. The second was smeared along the back side of the boulder. The third was soaking into the small hat unique only to Otto; left dirtied and smashed on the ground. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to verify his demise.

The three men once holding France finally caught up to him. They stood behind him. They kept a slight distance from the man. The anguished expression on his face frightened them.

Napoleon rode up behind the three men on his horse. He looked down at the scene and sneered.

“I will not let anyone oppose me, France. I will conquer this world and not a child, not even **you** will stop me.”

He turned to the three men behind France. “Soldiers! Keep this man here. I will deal with his punishment after we have won.” He smirked down at France. “Maybe a few lashes are in order. They would match your scars from Révolution Française very well.” With that he turned his horse around and charged after the retreating enemy.

The three men stood at attention behind France. They shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably as the broken man before them cried; tears steadily streaming down his face. Arms hanging limp at his sides.

France cast his eyes to the ground and picked up the crumpled, bloody hat. He looked down at the object in his hands and uttered an apology to the only person he could now.

“Je suis désolé Italie. Je suis vraiment désolé.”

France clutched the little hat to his chest, directly over his aching heart; and sobbed.

 

 

** French: **

  1. Je suis désolé Italie. Je suis vraiment désolé. = I’m sorry Italy. I’m so sorry.
  2. Trouillard = Yellow Belly/Yellow Livered/Coward
  3. Mon Emperuer = My Emperor
  4. Mon dieu pas… = My god, no….
  5. S’il vous plait = Please



* Grande Armée = the official name of the French Army.

*Révolution française = the French name for the event known as “The French Revolution”.

** German: **

  1. Unser Führer ist tot! Alle Soldaten zurückziehen! = Our leader is dead! All soldiers retreat!



**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, this is Challenged! (See our account profile for more on Talent and my’s partnership) This is one of our shorter works we have been working on for a while. Originally we were going to make it a one shot, but in the end decided to break it up into some smaller chapters. Thank you for reading our little fanfiction! We just started and would love to hear what you think. All constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated so please review! :D


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